14 DAY TRIAL // Gaming peripherals come out all the time, and sometimes we can even see a pattern in the short term. This week has so far seemed partial to ultra-colorful releases, with LED lighting systems that support 16.7 million colors.
Sharkoon decided not to go quite that far when it created the Skiller Pro, but it did choose to play every other trick in the book, so to speak.
In other words, if there is anything you'd expect a high-end gaming keyboard to offer, save a customizable backlight system, the Skiller Pro has it, and then some.
The only thing “missing” is a USB hub, but that's no big loss in the end. Those things are hardly ever used anyway.
Sharkoon Skiller Pro Gaming keyboard
Weighing 888 grams / 1.95 pounds, the product is among the heaviest keyboards on the world market. Sharkoon knows the value of quality over quantity, but quantity can be a quality all on its own.
Because of that, it wasn't too shy to load the keyboard with a bunch of keys beyond the normal set. And we don't just mean multimedia/volume controls.
While there is one set of such keys, on the upper right-hand side, there is a web browsing-related set on the upper left-hand side also.
Moreover, there is a set of six buttons on the left hand-side, parallel to the tab, shift, CTRL and Caps Lock keys. Numbered L1 to L6, they will record and save whatever macro combinations you find mouse useful.
Moving on, Sharkoon made it possible to control the mouse cursor. So all in all we have macros, as media, Internet, mouse functions and macro-loops complete with ordered keystrokes and delay times.
Whether or not using them qualifies as cheating during certain multiplayer games is something we’ll let you and your buddies decide.
Convenient touches
Sharkoon divided the keys into the standard 3-blok layout, but added the other keys on the sides and installed multi-key rollover support, so that you can press multiple buttons at once and have all of them be recognized.
You can also disable the Window key, interchange the WASD key functions with those of the arrow keys (saves time on reassigning controls in-game) and store all macros and other settings onboard. Finally, a 1.5 meter / 5-foot textile sheath cable with gold-plated USB port connects the Sharkoon Skiller Pro Illuminated Gaming Keyboard to a computer. All for the price of €26.99 / $35.
